IN VITRO ANTIVIRAL ACTIVITY OF

ECHINAFORCE®,
AN ECHINACEA PURPUREA PREPARATION,
AGAINST COMMON
COLD CORONAVIRUS 229E AND HIGHLY
PATHOGENIC MERS-COV
AND SARS-COV
JOHANNA SIGNER ; HULDA RUN JONSDOTTIR
INTRODUCTION
• Coronaviruses (CoVs) are believed to be responsible for 10-15% of all upper respiratory tract
infections in humans and were mainly thought to be responsible for the common cold until 2002

• Echinaforce® is a standardized preparation extracted from herb and roots of freshly harvested
Echinacae purpurea plants with a 65% alcoholic solution.
• Echinaforce as prevention and treatment of respiratory tract infections has been investigated in
both pre-clinical and clinical studies and its beneficial effects documented

• The antiviral activity of Echinacea has been investigated in vitro for most of the respiratory
viruses
METHODS
• Echinaforce® preparation is derived from hydroethanolic extraction (65% v/v ethanol) of
freshly harvested Echinacea purpurea herb and roots

• In vitro reconstituted human airway epithelia (MucilAir™) basal culture medium

(MucilAir™, 500 μl/24-well) was exchanged every 2–3 days while the apical side was
washed gently (2–4 times) with 200 μl of media to remove residual mucus.

• Cell toxicity was determined by exposing 80% confluent Huh-7 and Veroells to serial
dilutions of Echinaforce and measuring cell viability by MTT assay (Vybrant® MTT Cell
Proliferation Assay Kit)
METHODS
• Echinaforce® preparation is derived from hydroethanolic extraction (65% v/v ethanol) of freshly
harvested Echinacea purpurea herb and roots
METHODS
• HCoV-229E were incubated with Echinaforce diluted to 0, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 500 and 100
μg/ml in 2%-FBS DMEM and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature (RT) on a rocking
platform.

• Pre-treatment of cells
Huh-7 cells were incubated with 0, 1, 10 or 50 μg/ml Echinaforce in cell culture medium for 3
days at 33 °C.
• Post-infection-treatment of cells
Huh-7 cells were infected with 100 TCID50 HCoV-229E for 1 h at 33 °C and after washing
the cells twice with complete culture medium
RESULTS
1 ) Echinaforce reduces the infectivity of HCoV-229E in a dose dependent manner
2 )Echinaforce affects infectivity through stable interactions with HCoV-229E virus
particles
• pre-treatment of cells had no influence on HCoV-229E infectivity or replication (Fig. 2b).
• In cells treated post-infection, a small reduction in virus titer was observed after treatment
with the highest dose of 50 μg/ml
3) Echinaforce inhibits HCoV-229E infection of respiratory epithelial cells
• In respiratory epithelium pre-treated with 50 μg/ml Echinaforce, viral titers remained below
detection level in most cultures at 48 hours (7/8) and 72 hours (5/8) post infection
4) Echinaforce exerts antiviral effects on MERS and SARS coronaviruses
• MERS-CoV was even more sensitive than HCoV-229E to pre-treatment with the lower
concentration (10 μg/ml) of Echinaforce.
5) Echinaforce reduces infectivity other membranous viruses in vitro
DISCUSSION
• an Echinacea purpurea extract, has been shownto broadly inhibit the infectivity of influenza A and B,
RSV, parainfluenza virus, and herpes simplex virus in-vitro and to interfere with cytokine production
induced upon viral infection.
• Almost complete protection was observed in respiratory epithelium treated with 50 μg/ml. At a lower
concentration (10 μg/ml), the protection was less efficient but detectable.

• The inhibition of virus-induced cytokine production by Echinaforce may be beneficial by limiting the
damage of the respiratory epithelium provoked by the immune system

• The anti-inflammatory action of Echinaforce is less relevant for coronaviruses, treatment with 50μg/ml
Echinaforce inactivated both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV particles to similar levels as observed for
HCoV-229E.
CONCLUSION

• Human coronaviruses are readily inhibited by Echinaforce in vitro, further

strengthening its use as a prophylactic treatment against a wide range of
respiratory viruses.

• Echinaforce,potentially providing an accessible and inexpensive prophylactic

treatment for emerging coronavirus infections.
THANK YOU